


Noticing

by timelordangel



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Destiel - Freeform, M/M, Sam notices, Sams point of view
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-05
Updated: 2013-08-05
Packaged: 2017-12-22 12:00:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/912958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timelordangel/pseuds/timelordangel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam's point of view. Throughout the course of a hunt with the newly fallen Castiel, Sam begins to notice just how close his brother and the ex-angel really are.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Noticing

**Author's Note:**

> I really enjoyed the idea of Sam's thoughts as he notices things, and this happened to be very fun to write.

It all really hit me months after the angels fell. Cas found us, distraught and incapable of telling us anything, so we let him sleep it off and I argued he should be alone while Dean insisted on checking on him every hour. Thankfully two weeks later Cas had mastered the basics of showering, eating, sleeping, and about everything else that humans tend to forget they had to be taught at some point, and he had settled in nicely to a bedroom in the bunker. The same bedroom I had gone to check on him in one morning a few weeks later.

I woke up earlier than them, par normal, and found myself drinking coffee in the kitchen area. After a brief thought of what to make for breakfast, I realized Cas had never eaten eggs, and I was too curious if he would like them or not to let either of them sleep past ten. The bunker was silent as I walked to Cas' room and knocked gently at the door. The lack of reply was expected, so I pushed open the door gently. My first reaction to the empty bed was fear, terror that Cas had somehow left in the night, leaving us because he felt like he didn't deserve us or maybe because he had wanted to go try to help. I practically ran to Dean's room, a strangled yell caught in my throat as I barged in and found... Cas.   
The former angel was asleep in a mound of bed sheets and pillows, Dean absent from the scene. I backed out of the room and walked to the bathroom down the hall, pressing my ear to the door and listening to the sound of the shower. 

I was sitting at the table with my own breakfast in front of me when Dean walked in, his hair damp. 

"Mornin' Sammy." he grinned at me. I gave him a face. 

"You scared me this morning." I said as I watched him pour coffee. 

"Were you that surprised I decided to shower?" Dean scoffed. I was enjoying the build up to the embarrassment.

"I checked on Cas, and for some reason he didn't seem to be in his room." I layered on false surprise, holding back a smirk at Dean's small frown. 

"He couldn't sleep, you try shaking off an angel at two am." He responded too quickly. 

I hummed a response mixed with a small smile. 

"It was a one time thing!" Dean got defensive, "Stop giving me that look!" 

"I'm not looking at you." I said as mockingly as I could. That was when Cas walked in. Dean didn't look at him as he took his coffee and sat down beside me, giving me one last glare. 

"Good morning, Cas." I smiled at him. He smiled back and sat down beside Dean. I refrained from saying anything else. 

The next day we went out on a hunt. We'd only been taking small jobs within fifty miles from the bunker, and Cas almost always joined us. Despite not being connected to his angel powers, Cas knew how to fight. Dean taught him the art of B&E, and I taught him how to research via internet. Another thing Dean had taken up was the task of teaching Cas how to drive. Surprising, because lately Dean had been more possession of his car than normal. Then again, I'd noticed Dean becoming more possessive of Castiel as well. When I asked him about why he had suddenly become Protector of All, he squinted his eyes at me and said something along the lines of "I have to protect the little bit I have left, Sam." After that I stopped mentioning it. 

This particular hunt was looking to be a bust, an empty barn with little evidence anything out of the ordinary was even there. Cas had gone up to the hay loft while Dean and I had stayed inspecting the deserted horse stalls and piles of wooden crates. 

"Haunted barn," Dean scoffed, "Sounds like something out of a cheap horror film." 

"The woman's husband was found on the barn floor with his neck slit and his face torn to shreds,Dean. No sign of anybody else being around, but an obvious struggle. It's got to be something paranormal." I sighed as I looked around the place. 

As I did so, a large barrel of hay fell from the loft, landing on the floor of the barn with a loud thump, making both my brother and me jump. 

"Cas, what the hell?!" Dean shouted. 

"I didn't touch that." Cas spoke from the top of the loft, over the ladder. Dean's eyes grew wide. As if on cue, all the hay started falling. 

"Cas! Get your ass down here!" Dean continued shouting as the hay took on a mind of its own, sending itself flying across the air and almost taking me out. I pressed myself against the wall and prayed the flying hay would settle down. Cas made it down the latter and Dean practically clung to him and dragged him out of the building. I dodged the hay and stumbled out moments after them, a pit peeved as I slammed the large red doors. 

"Thanks guys." I pressed my lips together and began picking bits of hay out of my hair and jacket. Dean and Cas ignored me, Cas cleaning Dean while the latter made sure the former was okay. They were both so occupied in each other I started mumbling nonsense about how I knew it was the ghost of a horse who had been wronged by the farmer and was content to spent the rest of his life harassing humans with hay. Dean shushed me.

That night we ate dinner silently as I emailed a close friend of the farmer's wife. While reading her email I noticed Dean and Cas out of the corner of my eye. Cas had barely touched his plate of food and Dean was looking at him with this eyes that made me feel like I was intruding on a moment. After a few minutes of pleading from Dean Cas did eat more of his dinner, which eased my mind as well, but I can't explain accurately just how relieved Dean looked. 

"So I have some interesting news." I spoke cautiously, glancing over at my brother and the ex-angel having what appeared to be a staring contest. 

"Shoot." Dean coughed and returned to his spaghetti. 

"Get this, so the farmer was arrested on the account of suspected murder of his previous wife, who died four months before he married his current wife and exactly seven months before their son was born. He was let off because there was no evidence and supposedly everyone loved him, but the killer was never found. Vengeful spirit on our hands, looks like." 

"Well, he's dead. Wouldn't she have gotten her revenge by now?" Dean asked through a mouthful of noodles. 

"And that's where I draw a blank." I leaned back and gathered my thoughts.

"What about the current wife?" Cas spoke up. "She wouldn't follow us out to the barn." 

"So?" I cocked my head. 

"So, maybe she was afraid this thing would get her too." Dean continued for Cas. 

"Wouldn't anybody be afraid?" I ignored the coordinated talking and spoke to both of them. 

"No, a normal person would suspect he was murdered. Somebody who knew nothing of why this man deserved to be murdered would not be afraid the murderer was still in the barn in broad daylight." Cas explained, his eyes leaving Dean's in favor for mine. "But she might be afraid if she knew the only person who would want to murder him is dead in that barn." 

"Are you saying the spirit would want her too because she knew what happened?" It sounded logical enough to me. 

"No, he's saying maybe she helped kill his wife." Dean said softly before immediately continuing, "You said the second wife's child was apparently born seven months after the first wife died. What if he got her pregnant, and they decided they wanted to keep the child and get married, and they thought the only way was to kill off the previous wife. Nobody would suspect two honest farmers, right?" 

"That makes sense. Maybe he'd never heard of divorce, I mean normally killing somebody is plan two." I rolled my eyes before pausing. "And do you know where I bet that body is?" It suddenly all clicked in my head. 

"The hay loft." Cas finished for me. The three of us all grinned for a second, pleased with our deduction. 

"You guys ready to go burn some bones?" I smirked. 

"Let's go." Dean glanced at the clock, shrugging as it read half past eleven.

We found ourselves in the darkened barn at midnight, Dean heading up in the hay loft first. I told Cas to wait at the bottom before I headed up next. The hay loft was old and unnervingly unstable, cluttered with hay, mouse droppings, and a lot of crates. As we walked towards the crates a stench hit us like a tidal wave and I heard Dean wretch. 

"You okay?" I muttered with my shirt over my nose. 

"Yeah. I'll look through the ones over here. Get those." He responded before edging over to the crates by the wall. It didn't take long for me to crack into a crate and come face to face with a decomposed skeleton wrapped in potato sacks. 

"Dean!" I shouted the same time he shouted "Sam!" at me. I spun around to hear what he found but just as he was opening his mouth again a gust of something pushed him back until he fell off the ledge. 

"Dean!" I shouted, immediately clutching to the sloped ceiling, worry shooting through me. 

"Sam!" Cas shouted at me from below. 

"Cas!" I screamed as another barrel of hay flew over the edge. 

"Sam!" Dean shouted this time as relief spilled through me. I used my ax to demolish the rest of the crate but just as the last panel collapsed a woman in overalls appeared in front of me, her face a cut up mess. She growled and threw me against the wall. I bit back the sharp pain and reached for the jug of gasoline. Suddenly Dean was at the top of the ladder, throwing rock salt. The proximity to the house meant we couldn't use our salt-loaded guns, despite the house being a decent way away. She vanished as Dean grabbed the gasoline and began drenching her bones, all the while shouting at me to "ignite the fucking lighter". 

I about did as told before freezing. 

"Dean!" 

"What?!" He snarled. 

"We're in a hay loft in a wooden barn! We'll burn the fucking place to the ground!" I bit back, anxiously looking around for another sign of the ghost. 

"Why isn't she coming back?" Dean ignored my worry, both of us pausing in the too silent atmosphere. 

"What caused her to the first time?" I practically yelled in panic. 

"The crates on the other wall!" Cas appeared in the hay loft and I saw a flash of panic in Dean's eyes. 

"Cas get back down there!" Dean shouted. 

"What about the crates?!" I shouted at Cas. We were all shouting at each other with our own concern, and I didn't understand Cas'. 

Suddenly Cas was pinned to the wall. Dean dropped the gas. I froze. 

"She wasn't alone! Look in the other crates!" Cas struggled against the invisible hold. 

"She only wants us to stay away from those, not her!" I grabbed the rafters again and whisper-yelled to Dean. 

By the time we managed to get to the crates and destroy them, Cas was still pinned to the wall and Dean and I were stunned into silence. There was a skeleton of a baby too small to possibly have been born yet, but close, wrapped in more potato sacks. 

"She was pregnant." Dean breathed. His breath was easily seen and I dropped to the floor, dragging Dean with me. 

"She doesn't care that they killed her! She cares that they killed her unborn child!" I gasped. 

"And she's trapped here without her child!" It clicked in Dean's head. 

"Come on. We'll burn the barn down. It's our only way to end this." I stood, determined. Dean looked shaken up. 

"Sam, can you imagine how lonely she must be." He whispered. 

"Who cares?! Let's burn the bones and get the hell out of here!" I stressed, taking the lighter out of my pocket and watched Dean wrestle Cas down. A stack of hay rammed into the wall directly after, Cas barely escaping it. 

I waited until they were mostly down the ladder before lighting the lighter. A force tried to push it out of my hands but I held on, managing to chuck it at the body and watch for a split second as it engulfed in flames.The spirit in overalls appeared and shrieked as she burned. Adrenaline spiked in me and I bolted for the ladder, racing down it and barely feeling the floor as I raced towards the door. 

We were in the impala in record time, driving off as the barn engulfed in flames. 

"Already called the fire department." Dean informed me as he drove too fast home. 

"Fantastic." I breathed as the adrenaline wore off. 

We all crashed as soon as we got home, all of us except Dean. I found him drinking scotch in the main room at four am and that's when I knew something was more wrong than normal.

"Where's Cas?" I teased as I sat down beside him with tired eyes. 

"Not now, Sam." He breathed deeply. 

"Come on Dean, what's going on?" I tried to put as much sincerity into my words so he might tell me the truth about his emotions for once, despite being able to read him like a book. 

"I don't know." Dean took another sip. He looked exhausted. 

"What's on your mind?" I pressed.

"I can't imagine how horrible it would be to be trapped on earth after you and your child were just killed by your husband. And then spending so much time not even caring if you were done away with, just protecting the body of the person you cared most about, but you don't even get to be with them." Dean rambled for a moment before pausing and taking another drink. 

"You're sympathizing with a vengeful spirit." I asked incredulously. He glared at me. 

"I'm thinking about what it would be like to spend the rest of my life without C- somebody I really cared about but I would still have to protect them. She still loved that child after all those years, even if it's what got her killed." Dean frowned, his eyes red.

"It-" I began.

"You can't divorce your extremely pregnant wife." Dean said in monotone, his eyes glassy.

Despite the wasted-Dean's probably accurate explanation for why the farmer had to kill his wife, I decided it would be best if this conversation was not had at this hour. The last thing I wanted was Dean beating himself up over yet another thing. 

"You're drunk. Let's go to bed." I declared, wondering what the hell had sparked this in Dean anyway.

"You know," Dean just about slurred, "Maybe this is about Cas." 

"It's not about Cas." I hummed, practically dragging him to his bedroom which was (thankfully) free of Cas. 

"Maybe I love him." Dean said a bit more forcefully, but whatever convincing tone he was trying for was lost in his inability to walk straight. I tried not to freeze in my tracks. Where the hell had that come from? I didn't expect to get it out of him this easily.

"Then why don't you tell him when you're sober." I crooned, guiding him to the bed.

He grunted in agreement as I ungracefully pulled his shoes off and walked out of his room, shutting the door behind me. And for a moment I just stood there with my back to the door and my eyes shut. I had never seen Dean as affected by anything or anyone as he was affected by Castiel. I suppose that says it all in itself.

Maybe Dean was right. Maybe I was losing my brother to the ex angel with the bluest eyes I'd ever seen.   
And maybe, just maybe, I should have known this would happen all along.


End file.
